All Entries Tagged With: "Michael Del Zotto"
At The Midpoint, The Rangers Are Surpassing Expectations
At the midway point of the season, the New York Rangers are 28-10-4. They have put together 4, 5-plus game win streaks in the first half of the season, something no other Rangers team has done and have not yet had a losing streak of more than 2 games. If someone told you when they [...]
24/7, Episode 4 – The Rangers Recap
I was oh-so-looking forward to recapping last week’s episode, where Michael Del Zotto’s ugly Christmas sweater brought a whole new spin on “reindeer games”, and you just prayed Marian Gaborik didn’t injure himself lugging that tree to his apartment although you already knew he didn’t. Unfortunately, reality hit my less-than-humongous-big universe last week and I was [...]
Balance The Key To Rangers’ Success
Two months ago, the New York Rangers finally played at home after a long road trip to open the season. The team returned from their 7-game trip with 9 points, but they came in incomplete, undisciplined efforts. They turned in a mediocre performance in a loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs on October 27th, and [...]
24/7, Episode 1 – The Rangers Recap
The NHL struck gold when it began the Winter Classic in 2008. They then upped the ante for the 2011 edition, partnering with HBO Sports to bring us the “24/7: Road To The Winter Classic” series, in which we got an unprecedented, behind-the-scenes look at a month in the life of the NHL. And now, [...]
Tampa Bay Lightning Week in Review – Featuring The Quarterdeck Log
The Tampa Bay Lightning are 12-15-2 with 26 points through 29 games. After 29 games last season, the Bolts were 15-10-4 with 34 points. The Lightning are in fourth place in the Southeast Division and trail the division leading Florida Panthers by eleven points. Tampa Bay has fallen to 13th place in the 15 team Eastern Conference. After 29 [...]
A Very Tortorella Thanksgiving
The roaring fire is crackling in the fireplace. The Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade is on the big-screen television, and is just wrapping up. Santa Claus’ float rolls though Herald Square. The grandfather clock strikes noon. John Tortorella (scowling): “Well, that sucked from head to toe.” Tortorella changes the channel to FOX for the first football [...]
Getting To Know Blue
On November 16th, the New York Rangers held a question-and-answer event for season subscribers as a way to get to know some of their Broadway Blueshirts a little bit better. Fans had an opportunity to get some insights from defensemen Michael Del Zotto and Ryan McDonagh and forwards Brad Richards, Marian Gaborik, Brandon Dubinsky and Andre [...]
Back From Sweden, Rangers Look To Regroup And Rebound
Unfortunately for the New York Rangers, there was no Stepan-esque magic from a year ago as they opened their season in Stockholm, Sweden. Rather, the Rangers returned to North America with 2 points after a 3-2 overtime loss to the Los Angeles Kings and a 2-1 shootout loss to the Anaheim Ducks. The Rangers don’t really have [...]
Rangers’ Puzzle Falling Into Place
Unlike other teams in the National Hockey League these last few weeks, the New York Rangers have not undergone a radical makeover. They did get the big fish of the free agency pond in Brad Richards and signed Mike Rupp. They also re-signed one of their own UFAs, Ruslan Fedotenko, to a 1-year deal. But besides [...]
Rangers Keep Getting Defensive
The clock was ticking for the Calgary Flames on Wednesday. If they couldn’t sign defenseman Tim Erixon, their 2009 first round draft pick (23rd overall), to a contract by 5PM, he would’ve become eligible to reenter this year’s draft and the Flames would’ve lost a top prospect with not much to show for it. Calgary’s [...]
Jackets Need Major Overhaul. Plus – How to get Parise?
Another disappointing season in the books for the Jackets. A nice run early and a stellar run of play in February brought some false hopes, and as usual I fell for the false goods they were selling me and believed they had a chance. But in they end, “they were who we thought they were.” [...]
Rangers Acquire McCabe
The New York Rangers brought to reality a trade that had been speculated on for quite awhile, acquiring 35-year-old defenseman Bryan McCabe from the Florida Panthers. The Rangers sent forward Tim Kennedy and their 3rd round pick in the 2011 Entry Draft to the Panthers. McCabe clearly does not fit within the “go with the [...]
As Rangers Heal, Decisions Loom
Having already lost 193 man-power games this season, most of the New York Rangers have had close to a week to rest and more importantly, heal. Monday afternoon, Ryan Callahan, Dan Girardi, Vinny Prospal, Brandon Dubinsky and Erik Christensen participated in practice, and without non-contact jerseys. Word is that Callahan (broken hand) and Girardi (ribs) [...]
The Skating Wounded
Perhaps the Dolans should change Madison Square Garden’s acronym from MSG to MASH. The Rangers managed to rebound from a poor defensive effort in Carolina and came from behind twice to defeat the Atlanta Thrashers 3-2 in a shootout Saturday night. Wojtek Wolski (with his 3rd since coming over from Phoenix) and Brian Boyle (continuing [...]
Mats All, Folks!
At the midway point the New York Rangers were at an important crossroads in their season. Tonight they took on the Carolina Hurricanes at Madison Square Garden. It was only game 41, but still important. Heading into the matchup Carolina, with 2 games in hand, were 6 points behind the Rangers. The Rangers, in turn, [...]
Back to School
When New York Rangers’ sophomore defenseman Michael Del Zotto took the junior hockey path to get to the NHL he probably figured that he was done with homework assignments once he completed his secondary school classes. Turns out he was wrong. Thursday night in Ottawa the struggling Del Zotto was a healthy scratch for the [...]
Capping Off A Wild Week
It’s certainly been a week of highs and lows for the New York Rangers. They began it with a rollicking 8-2 crushing of the Edmonton Oilers on Sunday and followed up with the dramatic blow-the-lead-then-come-from-behind 3-2 overtime victory on the road against the Pittsburgh Penguins. Wednesday, they debuted their new Heritage jerseys at home against [...]
A new generation of offensive defensemen
Led by All-Stars Drew Doughty (currently on the injury reserve due to concussion symptoms) and Mike Green, the NHL is currently experiencing a boom in young and exciting offensive defensemen. While size and physical edge are still highly in demand, a new generation of offensive-minded defensemen is emerging in the NHL. Let’s have a look [...]
Drafting = Pin The Tail On The Donkey
A co-worker and fellow Rangers fan came into my office Friday morning and asked if I wanted to play a game. Being one to love games, I was intrigued. Pick the first 15 who go in the draft. No teams, just guess the order. Simple as that. So I sat. Hall 1, Seguin 2, Fowler [...]
Rangers at Blackhawks: Blueshirts Reflections/Game Preview
Thankfully it’s sites like Hockey Independent that make you realize that there are other things going on in sports besides the Tiger Woods drama, Allen Iverson’s return, and baseball’s Winter Meetings. Each and every night there are NHL games that really are just as exciting as any sports “soap opera” being over-covered by the media. [...]